Mentors

POV Hackathon mentors play a critical role in providing feedback, project management, therapeutic counselling… whatever is needed at any time to help the teams get their prototypes presentation-ready over the course of the weekend. At POV Hackathon 4, three mentors (two of whom where previous POV Hackathon participants) shared their expertise with the teams, and we can’t thank them enough for their time and for sharing their wisdom.

Sumin Chou

Sumin Chou is Co-Founder and Principal of Concentric Studio and oversees strategic direction and visual design for all projects. An interactive industry veteran, Sumin previously served as design director for the New York Times, where he oversaw all interactive design projects. He has also held senior creative positions at Time Inc. and several top interactive agencies, having worked on a number of high profile brands including British Airways, Dewar’s Scotch Whiskey, Deutsche Bank, New York Magazine, Real Simple, among others.

Sumin’s work has been recognized by several leading industry organizations including Communication Arts, Print Magazine, Society of Publication Design (SPD) and the ADDY Awards. He has also served as a judge for the Art Director’s Club, SPD and The International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (Webby Awards).

Sumin received a B.A. from Oberlin College, majoring in Studio Art/Art History and East Asian Studies. He also studied composition at the New York Studio School, typography at the Cooper Union School of Art and taught drawing and painting at the Brooklyn Museum Studio School.

In 2000, while at McKinsey, Parker Mitchell co-founded Engineers Without Borders Canada (EWB). EWB has mobilized 35,000 members, two million volunteer-hours and 25M$ to address the root causes of poverty in Africa. This produced awards including Canada’s Top40Under40, Ernst and Young’s Social Entrepreneur of the Year, and two Honorary Degrees.

In 2011 he stepped away from EWB, packed a backpack and began a sabbatical exploring metaphorical frontiers. In May he moved to NYC to build his next contribution to a better world.

Lam Thuy Vo is an interactive editor for Al Jazeera America, where she leads a team of multi-platform journalists.Before coming to Al Jazeera, she was a multimedia producer for NPR’s Planet Money where she created interactives, data visualizations, videos and photographs to explain economic issues in visual ways. She managed and produced one of the show’s most viewed online projects “Unfit for Work – The startling rise of disability in America,” experimented with the use of video for the group’s live show “Is America Screwed?,” and produced reported animated gifs for a series about manufacturing, hoping to transform gifs from a humorous gimmick into a storytelling vehicle.

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POV (a cinema term for "point of view") is television's longest-running showcase for independent non-fiction films. POV premieres 14-16 of the best, boldest and most innovative programs every year on PBS. Since 1988, POV has presented over 400 films to public television audiences across the country. POV films are known for their intimacy, their unforgettable storytelling and their timeliness, putting a human face on contemporary social issues.